Once again, as they do every year, my thoughts turn to dating when you’re in the 2nd Chapter of your life. Last year, a good friend shared this blog entry written by a man about to marry a widow and his thoughts are really encouraging: https://onefitwidow.com/marrying-a-widow/ Many women who’ve lost their spouses hope that they

A Widow’s Valentine Despite what you may think, Valentine’s Day will not kill me. It’s a day. I understand the the power of one day, as a number on the Western calendar, not as a chart to base my whole future upon. As a widow, I know how love can literally take your breathe

In order to do Valentine's Day better, I need to confess I've done Valentine's horribly bitter before. As American holidays go, there is no doubt in my mind that Valentine's Day singularly evokes an erratic swing of the emotional pendulum ever known to mankind. It's the most anticipated and simultaneously, most dreaded day of the year. The ever

I searched for Widow on Google Images and came up with two stereotypes: sad, lonely, old ladies in rocking chairs, and young sexpot man-eaters. It seems that the world has two ideas of what a widow should be, and neither one is very appealing! I’ve discovered that many widows deal with the challenge of finding

“Two-thirds of second marriages end in divorce, and those with stepchildren fare even worse.” I was shocked to hear these words from my grad school professor in a class on Close Relationships. As a widowed mother of two young teenagers, I had recently started dating an amazing man, and we were talking marriage after only

It’s taken a long time and it can be a journey for many of us to find those special women in our lives we can trust, but when we do, they are the gems we can’t live without. I know that I wouldn’t be the woman I am today without my girlfriends, and I wouldn’t

About a year after I lost my husband I often joked a smoke signal was let out from the chimney by those who loved me that it was now in fact time to get me a date. Suddenly there were lots of interested prospects circling the injured prey I felt like I had become. No

Goals or resolutions fail for three reasons and all three reasons take a decision, a desire, and wholehearted commitment to make it happen: 1. You "want" something, but allow excuses or effects like the kids, time, money, doing everything yourself to keep you from committing. 2. You have a lack of faith that it can

Recently I have started looking at the ways widows express themselves online, in blogs and on social media, when they begin a new serious relationship. When a new partner is added to the family after bereavement, there are many people that are affected by this event. Bloggers often write for more than one audience at

If it feels like you’ve been on an emotional and sometimes turbulent white water river ride and you’re not into extreme sports don’t worry, so have I! Grief teaches how to ride the river and graces us with the opportunity to let go and life itself even out of grief is no different. We are